Why does every recipe think I have a sous vide machine at home?

I saw three different posts this week telling people to poach chicken at 145 degrees in a water bath and then sear it, which is great if you're cooking for a fancy restaurant in Portland but most of us are just trying to get dinner done on a Tuesday with a regular pan and a meat thermometer that beeps at 165, so can we stop pretending everyone cooks like a line cook with a lab setup, or is there actually a simple trick I'm missing for soft chicken without all that gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_carr2610d ago

Look at how every home improvement show assumes you own a table saw and a miter station, or how every baking blog expects you to have a stand mixer just to make a dozen cookies. It's the same pattern where the internet only speaks to people with money and space for specialty gear, while the rest of us are supposed to feel dumb for using what we have. Your meat thermometer at 165 is fine, most chicken that's rested properly is still juicy, and the whole sous vide thing is just a way to sell you another gadget you'll use twice. Honestly the simple trick is to stop reading those fancy recipe sites and find bloggers who cook like actual humans, ones who know you have one pan and a stove that has a hot spot. They're out there, you just gotta sift through the noise first.

ryan79310d agoMost Upvoted

165 is actually the temp where the chicken is done, but the carryover cooking and resting part is what nobody mentions. I mean, I pull mine off around 160 and let it sit for five minutes, it goes up to 165 anyway. The sous vide thing I get, but it's not just a gadget thing, it's also kind of a time thing for people who work weird shifts. But yeah, the whole "one pan and a hot spot" thing is real, I've got a stove that burns everything on the left side and barely cooks on the right. I've just learned to rotate my pan like it's a rotisserie.